April marks record tourist arrivals in past 13 years

Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed on Tuesday revealed that the arrival rate of tourists in Maldives for the month of April exceeded the rates for the previous 13 years.

According to the Tourism Minister, this is the highest influx since the increase in arrival rate in the 2000s after the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster in 2004.

"We are very pleased with the achievements in our efforts to properly direct tourism", said Waheed.

Tourist arrivals reached 119,713 in April last year, while in comparison, the amount was 163,114 for April 2019. Minister Waheed further stated that this is a 36.3 percent increase compared to April 2018.

While 539,816 tourists are tallied for the entirety of the year thus far, the vast majority visited in the past two months. According to the Tourism Minister, observing the first quarter between the months of January to April showed an increase by 19 percent.

Statistics show that the majority of tourists arrived from Europe, with 357,650 holidaymakers from the region visiting the country this year, including 88,031 solely in April 2019. This is a 40 percent increase in UK tourists from last year. The penultimate number of tourists arrived from Asia Pacific, and although there were only 1,833 tourists from African countries in April last year, this is also an increase by 39.7 percent in April 2019.

China is the top market from Asia and the Pacific, contributing over 18,704 tourists and resulting in a 23.9 percent increase in arrivals compared to April 2018. Penultimate in the market is Italy with 67,891 tourists, with Germany securing the third with 54,862 holidaymakers. India and UK each contributed 7.6 percent shares in the market.

According to the Minister of Tourism, the high arrival rates were due to stability returning to the country following the change in administration in November 2018.